Just Like You Belong Here
by theothersusan
Summary: KevLaur alternate timeline beginning the day after Halloween. Expect un-SORASed Rocco and no mention whatsoever of Charlotte (at least not for a while). Think of this as what *could* have happened. Oh, and the rating isn't for Chapter 1, so don't get your hopes up. ;-)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: I started this fic** **the day after Valentin's dramatic appearance at Wyndemere on Halloween** **. At the time, I assumed that Laura would have cleared her personal stuff out of the house that night and gone home with Dante and Lulu. I further assumed that Kevin would have helped them with the move (because Kevin), then gone home, then come by the next morning to make sure that Laura, Lulu, and company were okay. So when this opens Dante has already gone to work, but everyone else is home, and Laura is just coming downstairs.** _ **Note that Rocco is still little in this story, as I started it before GH SORASed him.**_

Laura was about to push the den door open when the sound of her daughter's distressed voice on the other side stilled her hand.

"-longer this goes on, the more worried I'm going to be about Mom."

"I think your Mom is coping pretty well, all things considered."

 _Thank you, Kevin,_ Laura thought, and realized he must have come by to check on them.

"She's just under so much stress," Lulu went on as if Kevin hadn't spoken. "I mean, losing Nikolas was already hard enough, and now for Valentin to just show up here like nothing even happened…"

"It's a very difficult situation," Kevin agreed, his mild tone a stark contrast with Lulu's agitation.

"Mom was _so_ upset last night. You know-you saw her."

Laura winced. Kevin knew even better than Lulu realized just how upset she'd been. He had been the one to comfort her after Lulu and Dante had gone to put Rocco to bed, and she'd had quite a spectacular mini-breakdown all over him.

"I understand that you're worried about her," Kevin said gently, bringing Laura back to the present, "but to be honest, Lulu, I'd be more concerned about your mother if she _wasn't_ visibly upset. The way she's reacting is normal. Or at least as normal as anything about this situation can be."

"So you think she's okay?" Lulu asked, and Laura could hear the note of pleading underneath the question.

"I wouldn't say any of us is exactly _okay_ right now. We're all still in varying levels of shock. But she's coping about as well as anyone could." A pause. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm about to cross a line, but if what you're really asking is whether I think having Valentin Cassadine show up here is going to put your mother back into a dissociative state, then no, I don't."

"Wait, you know about that? Did Mom tell you?"

"She did, yes."

"Wow. That's… I mean, she doesn't talk about it."

"I know. And you certainly wouldn't be hearing about it from me if you weren't her daughter. But I can see that you're afraid of what all this might do to her, and I don't think she'd mind my reassuring you: Your mother is very, _very_ far from losing touch with reality."

"Thank you," Lulu blurted, now sounding close to tears. "I just can't help being scared, you know? I went to wake her up this morning, and for the longest time all I could do was stand there outside her room thinking _What if she won't wake up? What if she's gone again?_ "

Now Laura wanted to cry herself. She'd had no idea how terrified Lulu actually was.

"A perfectly understandable fear," Kevin said gently. "But an unfounded one."

"Are you sure?" It had been years since Laura had heard that scared-little-girl tone in her daughter's voice, and it tore at her.

"I'm sure."

There came the faint sound of a stifled sob, and Laura almost threw the door open-who cared if they knew she'd been eavesdropping?-but it was instantly followed by a rustle of movement and Kevin saying, "Whoa, easy...c'mere, kiddo."

Laura pushed the door open enough to peek through the gap just in time to see Lulu fall into Kevin's open arms. He caught her and hugged her tightly, murmuring something too quiet for Laura to make out, and she began to cry in earnest. Kevin's broad hand almost completely spanned the width of Lulu's shaking shoulders, and Laura was struck by a wave of deep, nameless emotion at the sight of him holding her child so protectively.

At that instant, Kevin looked up, seeming to feel her eyes on him. Their gazes locked and held, and after a moment he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Asking her, Laura understood, not to interrupt Lulu's catharsis. Asking her to let him handle this.

She nodded slowly and withdrew, letting the door slip silently closed before taking herself to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Not because she particularly wanted a cup of tea, but because it would give her something to do with her hands and hopefully take her mind off wanting to run to her daughter.

It wasn't until the tea was steeping that she calmed down enough to really process what she'd just witnessed. She had known that Lulu liked Kevin-he'd obviously gotten her flight number from _someone,_ after all-but the visible depth of respect and trust between them had surprised her. Lulu didn't admit fear any more easily than Laura herself did, and for her to literally cry on Kevin's shoulder was a tremendous leap of faith.

Very belatedly, it occurred to Laura that what was happening between Kevin and herself _wasn't_ just between them. Spencer liked Kevin enough that he'd written him an actual paper letter and asked her to hand-deliver it. At the time she'd chalked that up to Spencer's flare for the dramatic, but what if what he'd really wanted was to force her to talk to Kevin? That would be a very Spencer-like move, now that she thought about it, if he had somehow become aware of the tension between them.

Lulu, too, had really wanted her to give Kevin another chance. Had gone out of her way to nudge her in that direction several times, actually. And when she'd mentioned agreeing to have lunch with him the other day, Lulu had practically done the dance of joy.

Come to think of it, even Lucky had asked about Kevin on the phone last night. She had called to warn him that Valentin was on the loose, and his first question after ascertaining that she and Lulu were safe had been whether Kevin was there with them. Which had struck Laura as a bit strange, given how long it had been since Lucky had last seen Kevin.

Somehow in the course of the months they'd known each other, Kevin had become part of her family, and she hadn't even noticed. The revelation hit Laura so hard that she didn't realize she was staring sightlessly down into her mug until Kevin's voice spoke from the doorway several minutes later.

"Reading your tea leaves?"

She startled and looked up at him. "No, I- Is Lulu alright?"

"She's fine," he said, coming to lean against the counter beside her. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to feel like the world's worst mother," she admitted. "I didn't even think about how scared she must be-"

"Not your fault," he said.

"I should've talked to her more last night. I should've-"

Kevin turned and took her firmly by the shoulders. "Stop. You had just come face-to-face with your son's murderer _and_ lost your home in the space of ten minutes. You were frantic to reach Spencer's school and Lucky and your mother, and it's completely understandable that Lulu-who was standing right in front of you whole and healthy-wasn't the first person you thought to worry about."

"I still feel terrible. She was _crying_." Laura brushed her fingers across the damp patch on Kevin's shirtfront.

"She needed a good cry. She's scared and angry and confused, and it's not healthy to bottle all of that up."

"You were really good with her," Laura murmured, feeling again that strange wave of emotion that had swept over her as she watched the two of them together.

"Was I?" He actually sounded slightly uncertain. "I wasn't sure how you'd feel about my stepping in like that, but I couldn't just stand there and… I mean, I _have_ a daughter, and if Christina was ever that upset I would want someone to-"

"You did the right thing," she broke in. "And you did great."

Kevin's relief was palpable. "Thank you."

Another late-breaking thought occurred to Laura. "Are _you_ okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this has to be upsetting for you, too. The man who shot you is running around free, and you've got me and Lulu falling apart all over you without even asking how you're doing."

"Getting to be here for you and Lulu is probably _why_ I'm as calm as I am. I always do better in a crisis when I feel useful."

"I hope you know you're more to me than just _useful,_ " she said, looking up into his eyes. "As sorry as I am that I dragged you into all of this, I won't lie-I'm really glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here, too. And you didn't drag me anywhere. Wherever you are, that's where I want to be."

"Even when that puts you squarely in Valentin Cassadine's path?"

"Especially then. I don't want you going after that lunatic alone. Not that I doubt you _could,_ but I'd really rather you didn't."

"What makes you think I'm planning to go after him?"

"I've met you."

Laura laughed in spite of herself. "Okay, you're right. The thought has occurred to me. But I haven't gotten as far as having an actual plan, and it's never a good idea to go up against a Cassadine without a plan, not if you can help it."

"I'll take your word on that. But I'm serious, Laura-please remember that you're not alone in this."

She brought her hands up to rest on his forearms and gave them a little squeeze. "How could I forget?"

He lowered his head until their foreheads nearly touched and looked seriously into her eyes. "I'm going to say the same thing to you now that I said to Lulu a few minutes ago, and I hope you'll take it in the spirit in which it's intended: _Please_ be careful."

"I will," she promised. "But you have to do the same, okay? Valentin's original quarrel may not have been with you, but now there's no telling, and...well, like you said, he's a lunatic."

Kevin smiled. "I already promised Lulu that I wouldn't do anything crazy, and I take my promises very seriously."

"Did she by any chance promise you the same thing?" Laura asked hopefully.

"She said she wouldn't go looking for trouble, but that was the best I could do."

"I'm amazed that you got that much out of her. She can be pretty stubborn."

Kevin didn't say a word, but his raised eyebrow spoke volumes.

"I know, I know. Apples and trees. But I'm blaming at least half of it on Luke. It's not as if he's here to defend himself," she added, only realizing after the fact how bitter she sounded. "Wow, sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"Probably from the perfectly reasonable expectation that your ex-husband should be as concerned as you are about protecting your children and grandchildren from Valentin Cassadine," Kevin answered, taking her aback.

"I, uh...well, yes," she managed after a moment. "Though I guess it's possible that he doesn't know."

Kevin studied her eyes, then shook his head. "You don't really believe that."

"No," Laura admitted, "I don't. By now Robert certainly knows, which I'm sure means Luke knows."

"But you don't think he's coming back."

"No," she said again, and tried to fight back angry tears. "If he'd had any intention of ever coming back here, I hope to hell he would've done it when Lulu thought he was dead. But he couldn't even be bothered to _call_ her, so…"

"I'm sorry," Kevin said quietly.

Laura laughed wetly, scrubbing at her face with her hands. "It's certainly not _your_ fault."

"It's not yours, either," he answered, producing a clean handkerchief from his back pocket and offering it to her. "Or Lulu's. Or Lucky's."

"Thank you," she said, accepting both the handkerchief and the reassurance. "I know that. I do. And so do they, I hope. I just wish… Well, I wish a lot of things, actually." She managed a half-smile. "I didn't really mean to get into all this."

"We can change the subject," he agreed gracefully. "Just so long as you know that if you need to talk-about anything-I'm here."

"Thank you. I appreciate that more than you know. I've just gotten so used to not having anyone to talk to about the kids that...well, it may take me a little while."

"You take your time. I'll be here."

"I know," she answered, blinking back fresh tears-the good kind this time. "Thanks for not giving up on me."

He smiled and leaned in to press a soft kiss to her forehead, then straightened and reached matter-of-factly for her over-steeped tea. "I think this is probably beyond salvaging at this point. What do you say we start over? Assuming you wouldn't mind making it tea for two, that is."

"I definitely wouldn't mind."

They made two cups of proper tea and installed themselves in the breakfast nook, where they spent the next half-hour discussing a variety of things having nothing whatsoever to do with Valentin Cassadine. Then Lulu wandered in carrying Rocco and asked whether anyone else was hungry, and somehow that turned into Kevin making pancakes while Laura fried bacon and Lulu ran herself ragged trying to keep Rocco out from under their feet.

By the time they sat down to eat Lulu was filching bacon off Kevin's plate as if she'd been doing it for years, and Kevin was elaborately pretending not to notice. Rocco thought it was hilarious, and Laura found herself doing more laughing than eating until Kevin noticed and gave her a little nudge, nodding toward her plate.

Dante called to check on them about halfway through breakfast, and Lulu put him on speakerphone, saying "Falconeri residence, breakfast chaos in progress" as Rocco attempted to launch a syrupy bite of pancake across the room with his blunt plastic fork.

Dante laughed. "How much of it is he wearing this morning?"

"Only about a quarter, actually. He really likes Kevin's pancakes."

"Kevin's there?"

"I dropped by to check on everyone here and ended up staying for breakfast," Kevin answered.

"He means he ended up cooking breakfast," Laura interjected.

"Whatever you're doing, man, I'm glad you're there," Dante said, sounding relieved. "That's great."

"Why, did something happen?" Lulu asked.

"No, no, I just feel better knowing there's-" He seemed to catch himself. "You know, knowing there's more people in the house."

"Knowing there's a man in the house, you mean," Lulu said, laughing at his attempt at a save. "Normally I'd pretend to be offended by that, but today I'm not even going to try." She smiled across the table at Kevin. "Honestly, I was pretty glad to see Kevin at the door earlier myself."

"I hope in a couple of hours you might be seeing me at the door," Dante answered. "I'm gonna try to knock off early and come on home."

"That would be wonderful."

"I'll do my best. In the meantime…" He cleared his throat. "Kevin, what are your plans for today?"

Kevin glanced uncertainly from Laura to Lulu and back.

"You're welcome to stay," Lulu said.

Laura nodded.

"Thanks," Kevin acknowledged, and in direct answer to Dante's question added, "I believe I'll hang around here until you get home."

"Thanks, man, I appreciate that." There was some noise in the background on his end. "I gotta go. Love you, babe. Kiss the little guy for me."

"Just as soon as he's no longer covered in syrup," she answered, and Dante was still laughing when she hung up.

When Lulu took Rocco to the bathroom a few minutes later to scrub the syrup off his face-napkins just weren't cutting it, apparently-Laura noticed that Kevin looked a little nonplussed.

"Kevin, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting that."

"Dante asking you to stay? If you have somewhere you need to be-"

"No, no, I'm happy to stay. It just surprises me a little to think he'd be that reassured by my presence. I mean, he's a cop, and I'm..."

"The guy who used himself as a human shield to save my life," Laura finished for him when he trailed off. "You don't need a badge to be brave, Kevin, and Dante knows that."

Kevin had the grace to look slightly abashed. "You're right. I guess I'm just not used to thinking of myself that way."

"Afraid you'll lose geek points if word of the heroics gets out?"

He stared at her for a second, then burst out laughing. "Yes," he finally managed, "that's it exactly."

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure the cape and tights are optional."

"God, I hope so."

Lulu returned to find them still laughing, a much less sticky Rocco perched on her hip. "Do I want to know what's so funny?"

"I think you kind of had to be here," Laura answered, and to her surprise Lulu accepted that, glancing back and forth between the two of them and smiling.

They cleaned up the breakfast mess and adjourned to the den, where Rocco surprised all of them by clambering up into Kevin's lap the instant he was settled on the couch.

"Well, hi there," Kevin said, and made a funny face that made Rocco laugh.

"I think he wants you to read to him," Lulu said apologetically. "That's where Dante sits when it's storytime."

Kevin glanced around and spotted the small stack of children's books on the end table. "One of these?" he asked Rocco, who nodded. Apparently Kevin had made his list of people it was fine to sit on, but hadn't yet been promoted to okay-to-talk-to status.

Kevin held the books up one at a time until _Make Way for Ducklings_ got him another nod, then got Rocco settled where he could see the pictures and began to read. " _Make Way for Ducklings_ , by Robert McCloskey…"

Laura sat back in her chair and closed her eyes to listen along. She knew the story by heart, of course-it was one she'd read many times to her children and grandchildren-but Kevin was an expressive reader, and his little asides made her smile as he occasionally paused to point out some detail or other of the illustrations to Rocco. He also asked a few questions, but took it in stride when Rocco declined to answer.

Until finally, when the policeman arrived on the scene, Kevin said, "Look, Rocco, that man is wearing a uniform. What do you suppose he does?"

And Rocco softly said, "He's a policeman like Daddy."

Laura opened her eyes in time to catch both Kevin's smile and Lulu's expression of surprise.

"That's exactly right," Kevin said. "Do you know what he's feeding the ducks?"

"Peanuts."

From there on the reading turned into a running dialogue between Kevin and Rocco, who by the end of the story had abandoned all traces of shyness.

"Another?" he asked the moment Kevin closed the book.

Lulu shook her head. "Rocco, Kevin's probably-"

"I don't mind," Kevin said. "Really."

So he read another and another and another until finally, somewhere about midway through _Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!_ , Laura felt herself beginning to fall asleep. Lulu was already out and had been for a while- _Where the Wild Things Are_ had done her in-and instead of fighting it Laura let herself drift off. God knew she hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and Kevin's voice was soothing, and he certainly wasn't going to let anything happen to Rocco.

* * *

When Laura woke some time later she was amused to find _everyone_ asleep. Lulu was still curled up in the chair opposite Laura's own, sleeping the sleep of the righteous. Laura had suspected that she hadn't been the only one who'd had trouble sleeping last night, and she was glad to see Lulu getting some rest.

But the most adorable sight that greeted her was Kevin stretched out on the couch with Rocco sprawled over his chest, both of them sound asleep. Kevin had his right arm draped over his eyes and his left arm wrapped protectively around Rocco, not that Rocco seemed to be in any danger of moving anytime soon. Neither of them stirred when Laura eased herself out of her chair, retrieved her phone from the kitchen, and took a couple of pictures.

She nearly dropped her phone a moment later when she heard movement outside the front door, but a quick glance out the window revealed Dante's familiar car, and a moment later the door swung open to reveal Dante with a load of grocery bags.

He started to speak, but Laura folded her hands and tipped her head against them, making the universal hand-sign for a sleeping child, and he caught himself, nodding his understanding.

Laura followed Dante into the kitchen to help put away the groceries, and once the door was closed behind them he quietly said, "Where's Lulu?"

"Everyone's asleep," Laura clarified. "Kevin was reading to Rocco, and by the end of it we were all out."

Dante laughed. "Little Man warmed up to Kevin pretty quick, then, huh?"

"Considering he's currently asleep on top of him? I'd say so, yes."

"I know it's not really my business," Dante said, suddenly very intent on rearranging the contents of the refrigerator, "but for what it's worth, I think you picked a winner there."

Laura had to suppress a laugh. Whatever higher power had decided to meddle in her life today was pretty heavy-handed with the hints. _Okay, okay,_ she thought. _I get it._

Aloud, she said, "Your opinion is worth a lot to me, actually, and I'm glad you feel that way."

Dante looked surprised, then pleased. "Thanks. I just think he's a stand-up guy. And hey, if Rocco likes him…"

Laura smiled. "You really should go look at the two of them. They're adorable. Not that I'm at all biased."

"Does Kevin have kids?" Dante asked curiously.

"A grown daughter, yes. Christina. But she lives in France, and I don't think he sees her as often as he'd like."

"He have any family around here?"

"Not that I know of."

"Wow, that's gotta be tough. I hope I don't have to say this, but he's welcome here anytime. You know that, right?"

"Thank you. I appreciate that, and I know Kevin will, too."

They finished with the groceries and stepped back out into the den, where Dante huffed an almost-silent laugh at the sight of Rocco asleep on top of Kevin, murmuring, "Once he's got you pinned to the couch like that there's no escape. He does it to me all the time."

"I thought it was better to just leave them be," Laura murmured back.

Dante nodded and turned his attention to Lulu, his expression suddenly tender as he watched her sleep. "She, on the other hand, is going to have an unbelievable crick in her neck if we leave her like that. I think I'll see if I can get her to bed without waking her." He paused. "Honestly, if I can, I may crash for a while myself if you don't mind keeping an eye on Rocco. Nobody got much sleep last night, and I'm just about done-in."

"Of course," Laura agreed, and watched as Dante easily lifted Lulu, cradling her against his chest as if she weighed no more than Rocco. She stirred but didn't wake, and Dante carried her carefully toward their bedroom, leaving Laura alone in the den with her sleeping grandson and…

The gears in her mind ground to a halt as she realized that she no longer had any idea what to call Kevin. _Friend_ no longer seemed like enough, though that was certainly still true. _Boyfriend_ made him sound like someone who should be leaving notes in her locker over at the junior high. _Significant other_ was too sterile, _lover_ too graphic (and technically inaccurate, at least for the moment).

It annoyed her that the English language lacked a word for...whatever exactly they were.

What really scared her was that there _was_ a word she could easily imagine eventually applying to Kevin. Not in the near future, but someday, when they were ready.

 _Husband._

The one word she'd promised herself she would never have a use for again. _I'm just not the marrying kind anymore,_ she'd thought more than once. It would be well and fine to fall in love, even to live with someone, but marriage? No thanks. She'd been there and done that, and it always ended badly.

But Kevin practically had _Husband Material_ stamped on his forehead. Kevin was the guy women her age were talking about when they complained that "all the good ones" were gone. Kevin was...well, someone she could imagine herself saying "I do" to someday.

Of course, that optimistically assumed that _Kevin_ was still the marrying kind. It was entirely possible that what he'd been through with Lucy had put him off the idea for good. From what she knew of the situation, she could hardly blame him.

Laura snapped out of her reverie as Kevin began to stir, shaking her head at herself. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. They'd barely been back on speaking terms for a week. Now was hardly the time to be thinking about marriage.

Kevin blinked at his surroundings in sleepy confusion for a minute, his eyes finally focusing on Rocco's blond hair an inch from his chin. Laura could see the moment he remembered where he was, and then she watched as he brought his hand up to ever-so-lightly touch the top of Rocco's head, almost as if he needed to make certain he was real.

"Hey," she murmured softly, not wanting to startle him.

He turned his head to smile at her and whispered back, "Hey. I take it storytime turned into naptime for all concerned?"

Laura nodded. "Dante came home about twenty minutes ago and carried Lulu up to bed. They're napping, and we-" She smiled. "-are watching Rocco."

"Doesn't look like he's going anywhere," Kevin observed, glancing down.

"No, but you must be feeling a little squashed. Do you want me to take him?"

Kevin shook his head. "He's fine where he is. It's been a long time since I held a sleeping child."

"Apparently you haven't lost your touch. Or your knack for story-reading."

"Oh, the reading I still get a lot of practice at."

Laura looked at him curiously.

"I hang out in the pediatrics ward sometimes on my lunch hour. There's nothing like reading to or coloring with a child to take your mind off the adult world and all its problems."

"I'll bet the kids adore you."

Rocco woke before Kevin could answer, sound asleep one moment and fully awake the next. "Mommy?" he asked, pushing himself up on his little arms to look around in alarm.

"Mommy's asleep," Laura answered calmly, and held out her hands to him. "Come here to Grandma."

Rocco allowed her to pick him up, flinging his arms around her neck and settling his head on her shoulder, and Laura breathed a silent sigh of relief. Sometimes absolutely no one but Mommy would do, and Rocco was more than capable of screaming loud enough to wake Lulu.

"Snack?" Rocco asked hopefully.

"Yes, it's snack time. Do you want grapes or Cheerios?"

"Chee-yos."

Laura smiled at Kevin as he levered himself to a seated position. "You're more than welcome to join us for snack time, but I know you probably didn't plan to spend the day here. It's alright if you need to go."

"And miss the Cheerios?" Kevin asked, feigning horror. "Perish the thought."

A few minutes later Rocco was perched on Laura's lap at the table, happily chasing Cheerios around the tray in front of them with his small fingers while Kevin looked on in amusement.

"Is this a daily occurrence?"

Laura nodded. "Apparently Cheerios taste better when you have to chase them down. Dante thinks it has something to do with instincts that go back to the cavemen."

Kevin laughed-more, she thought, at her eyeroll than at the sentiment itself. "I don't think he's quite ready to graduate to spear-hunting mastodon yet."

"Forks before spears," Laura agreed, making him laugh again.

"I've really enjoyed today," Kevin said after a moment. "I mean, obviously I hate the circumstances, but it's been nice to feel…"

"Like part of the family?" Laura suggested gently when he trailed off. "You're allowed to say that, you know."

His expression made it clear that he hadn't known, not for sure. "Thank you. You have a wonderful family, and I appreciate that you don't mind sharing them with me."

"At this point I think my family would mutiny if I didn't share _you_ with _them,_ " she answered, reaching out automatically to steady the tray as Rocco bumped it. "Lulu especially. She mentioned you at least once in every single e-mail she sent me while I was in France."

"I'll have to remember to thank her for that."

"Did I tell you that Lucky asked about you when I called him last night? Whether you were there with us?"

Kevin looked startled. "No, you didn't. Was he hoping I was or hoping I wasn't?"

"Just hoping you were okay, I think. Lulu must have recruited him for Team Kevin while I was away."

His brows rose. "Team Kevin?"

"I wouldn't put it past her to have shirts printed."

He laughed, then asked more seriously, "Are they driving you crazy?"

"No, no, I don't mind it. I'm glad they care. And I'm _very_ glad they like you. I'd much rather have them be a little over-enthusiastic than upset."

"I have to admit I'm relieved. Lucky's the one I've been worried about seeing again. Having the guy who used to be your shrink suddenly be dating your Mom is bound to be a little awkward."

Laura shook her head. "You have nothing to fear from Lucky. You saved my life, Lulu adores you, and you're not Scott Baldwin."

Kevin's brows rose. "Not a fan, I gather?"

"Nope."

"Knew I liked him for a reason."

They were interrupted by Lulu's appearance in the doorway, which distracted Rocco from his quest to capture the final, elusive Cheerio. "Mommy!"

She came over and scooped him up. "Hey there, big guy. Have you been a good boy for Grandma and Kevin?"

Rocco nodded.

"Good as gold," Laura confirmed.

"Did you thank Kevin for reading to you?"

Rocco shook his head. "It was nap time."

"Can you say thank you now?"

"Thank you," Rocco parroted obediently, turning to look at Kevin. A beat later he surprised them all by spontaneously adding, "You read great." His difficulty with the letter r turned it into _wead gweat,_ but Kevin didn't laugh, or even look amused.

"Well, thank you, Rocco," he answered. "You're a great listener."

"Are you a policeman?" Rocco asked out of nowhere.

"No. I'm a doctor. I work at the hospital."

Rocco's eyes lit up. "Like Doc McStuffins?"

Kevin smiled, and Laura was surprised to realize he'd actually understood the reference.

"Not exactly," he said, taking Rocco's question as seriously as he might have taken another adult's. "I'm a psychiatrist. Do you know what that is?"

Rocco shook his head.

"It means the people I help aren't hurt or sick. They're sad or angry or upset, and I help them figure out why."

That appeared to be cause for serious consideration, and Kevin kept quiet, giving Rocco time to think.

"You fix...bwoken feelings?" he finally asked.

"Yes. That's a very good way to say it."

Rocco nodded, apparently satisfied, and returned his attention to Lulu. "Blocks?"

She laughed and lowered him to his feet. "Yes, you can go play with your blocks. Ask Daddy if he wants to play with you."

Rocco took off down the hall, leaving the three of them staring after him.

"I'm sure you know this already," Kevin said after a moment, "but that is one seriously smart kid you've got there."

"So it's not just parental pride run amok?" Lulu asked. "I mean, obviously _we're_ sure he's a genius, but you really think…?"

"Several standard deviations above the mean," Kevin said confidently.

Lulu blinked. "Wow. Okay. Should we be doing something special with him?"

"I'd say whatever you're doing is working just fine."

"Thank you." She glanced toward the door. "I'd better go make sure the tower-building has some adult supervision. Kevin, Dante asked me to tell you that he's grilling steaks later, and there's one in there with your name on it, so don't rush off."

Kevin sighed dramatically. "Well, since you twisted my arm…"

"I'll tell him you're staying. In the meantime…" She paused, laughing at herself a little. "Okay, I tried to come up with a more subtle way to say this, but I give up. The three of us will be building block towers for the next hour, and Rocco's playroom is _very far from the den_."

And with that pronouncement Lulu turned and vanished down the hallway in Rocco's footsteps.

Laura closed her eyes and dropped her face into her hands. "She really wasn't raised in a barn. I promise she wasn't."

Kevin chuckled. "Whatever she might lack in subtlety, she makes up for in consideration. Because honestly, I'll take an hour alone with you any way I can get it."

She looked up to meet his eyes, knowing he would see her blush and deciding she didn't mind. "That does sound pretty good, doesn't it?"

He stood and stepped around the table to extend his hand to her. "Shall we?"

The playfully formal gesture made her smile, and she allowed him to draw her to her feet and lead her back into the den, where he hesitated.

"Let's sit on the couch," Laura suggested so that he wouldn't have to, and pointedly sat down in the middle, not wanting to risk the possibility that Kevin's sense of propriety might land them on opposite ends.

He took the hint and settled right next to her, wrapping his arm around her. "This okay?"

She snuggled into him and smiled, knowing he would hear it in her voice. "Very okay."

"How likely do you think it is that we're actually going to get a full hour of privacy?"

"I'd say the odds are running about five to three in our favor," Laura answered, and added in the most innocent tone she could manage, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's occurred to me that we sort of skipped the making-out-like-teenagers stage of a relationship."

Laura suppressed a laugh. "And now you're thinking we could circle back and see what we missed out on, is that it?"

"Mm-hmm. Only if you're amenable to that idea, of course."

The laugh escaped. "Oh, I think I could probably be persuaded."

She sat up to look at him properly, fully intending to tease him some more, and found that she couldn't. Not when he was looking at her with such unguarded emotion, everything he was feeling there in his eyes for her to see. He didn't look away, and Laura realized after a moment that he was _letting_ her see, that his defenses were down on purpose.

It had been a long time, before Kevin, since anyone had been so vulnerable with her, and Laura silently vowed to treat his openness as the precious gift it was. She brought her hand up to touch his face, and he sat quietly and allowed her to trace the line of his brow, to brush her fingertips through the soft silver hair at his temple, to cradle his jaw in her palm. Finally she leaned in and kissed him gently, pressing her lips to his once, twice, again-

On the third time he opened to her, and both of them groaned as the kiss deepened, taking on a life of its own. Kevin's hand found its way into her hair, his warm palm cradling the base of her skull, and Laura allowed her head to grow heavy in his hand, letting him adjust the angle of the kiss to suit himself. His free hand settled against her side, his thumb just grazing the outer curve of her breast, and Laura gasped against his mouth.

"Too much?" he murmured.

"No, it's wonderful. You're wonderful."

She felt him smile, and then he leaned back, gently drawing her down with him. Understanding what he wanted, Laura let herself fall. They stretched out along the couch, laughing a little at themselves as they got tangled up and had to pause to sort out whose knees and elbows went where. But when she finally settled fully against him, the effort was definitely worth it.

Kevin seemed to think so, too, if the way his breathing caught was any indication. His hands slowly traced the curve of her waist, and Laura felt her entire body react, craving more of his gentle touch.

"Please," she murmured, seeing desire in his eyes that easily matched her own.

"Kiss me again," he answered, and she did.

It turned into exactly what Kevin had half-jokingly suggested-the two of them making out like teenagers. Well, except that Kevin was far more adept at this than any teenaged boy had ever dreamed of being. Laura privately admitted to herself that if they had been in the backseat of a car parked out by some secluded back road, she would have been very tempted to let him go all the way.

As it was, though, they were on the couch in the den of her daughter's house, and both of them knew this couldn't go too much farther than it already had. The question was, did she want to let that frustrate her, or did she want to enjoy this-just this-to the fullest possible extent?

Wisely, she chose the latter. Of course, it helped that _just this_ with Kevin was better than plenty of actual sex she'd had. They might have only spent a single night together, but he had a very good memory for how she liked to be touched. He also had deft, gentle hands- _gamer's hands,_ she thought irreverently at one point, and nearly laughed-and a gift for reading her body's subtle cues.

She gave as good as she got, and for a long, glorious while they were as fully involved as two still-clothed people could be, kissing deeply and driving each other crazy with slow, teasing touches. Laura's self-control held until Kevin broke the kiss and nuzzled his way back to her ear, warming it with his breath before drawing her earlobe into his hot mouth and sucking softly.

All at once she didn't care where they were or who might walk in. She made a low, desperate sound in the back of her throat and rocked against him-

-and Kevin's hands dropped to her hips, stilling them firmly. "We should stop," he said, his voice ragged.

The unspoken _while we still can_ reverberated in the sudden silence, and Laura was torn, knowing he was right and desperately wishing he wasn't. Moving away from him was going to physically hurt. Reluctantly, she began to sit up.

Only to have Kevin gently draw her back down. "Whoa, whoa, don't go anywhere. Just...settle."

She wasn't sure that was going to work-her body didn't want to settle, and from the feel of things neither did his-but she laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes and forced herself to be still. His hands came back up to the relatively safe territory of her upper back, and after a few minutes she did begin to relax.

It helped to remember that they didn't have to put the fire out entirely. Just...bank it. For a more appropriate time and place.

"I have to find somewhere to live that's not with my daughter," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

Kevin laughed, the motion shaking them both. "You're forgetting a very important fact, you know."

"I am?"

"Mm-hmm. I have an apartment. Which you are more than welcome to visit any time you like."

"Soon?" she asked hopefully.

He laughed again, and she felt him kiss the top of her head. "How about you let me cook you dinner tomorrow night? Assuming that, you know, all hell doesn't break loose between now and then."

"It's a date," she said, and felt Kevin tense.

Which concerned her until she, too, heard the footsteps coming down the hall. "It's Lulu," she said calmly, turning her face toward the door but otherwise staying right where she was.

After a moment Kevin relaxed, too, and he was the one who answered when Lulu tapped tentatively on the doorframe, calling out before Laura could. "It's alright, Lulu, we're awake."

Lulu stuck her head into the room, her expression clearly proclaiming that sleeping was _not_ what she'd thought she might find them doing. "Hey, uhm, Dante's about ready to start on the steaks."

"Can we help?" Kevin asked politely.

Lulu shook her head. "No, no, you two stay put. You look...comfortable."

Lulu withdrew, looking a little nonplussed, and Laura pressed her face into Kevin's shoulder and snorted. "'We're awake'? You're terrible!"

"It wasn't a lie," Kevin said innocently. "I'm awake. Aren't you awake?"

"Very, very awake," she confirmed, and pushed herself up to give him a mock-severe look. "For the record, you may not do that to my ear again unless you have _immediate_ plans to follow through."

"I'll make a note of that," he answered solemnly.

"Good." Now she smiled at him. "You're dangerously good at this, you know."

"Not from anything resembling recent practice, I assure you," he said wryly.

"Must be natural talent, then," she answered, and couldn't quite make sense of the sudden flash of...something...that crossed his face. "Kevin? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no. Just the opposite." He reached up to brush her hair back from her face, his eyes tracking the movement of his hand rather than meeting hers. "I'm glad you think I'm… I'm glad you're happy."

Laura was momentarily puzzled. Had he thought she _wasn't_ happy? She didn't think she'd done anything to-

Understanding dawned, and she could've smacked herself in the forehead. _She_ might not have done anything, but Lucy sure as hell had. Her betrayal had blindsided Kevin, shattering in an instant everything he'd thought he knew about Lucy, their marriage, her feelings for him...and apparently his own worth as a man. To the point that even now, two and a half years later, he was surprised to hear how much Laura enjoyed being with him.

A wave of fierce protectiveness swept through her, and she decided then and there that this particular insecurity was going to die today. "Look at me."

He did, but his earlier openness was gone, replaced by an uncertain, guarded look that made Laura want to tear Lucy Coe limb from limb.

Instead, she focused on Kevin, tipping her head into his hand and saying simply, "I love the way you touch me. That first night-"

Kevin's eyes widened, and Laura could tell she'd surprised him. _We really need to talk about this,_ she realized. Because while the morning after had turned into a disaster, she didn't regret that night. And Kevin deserved to know that.

"You were so patient with me. So gentle. And I didn't even know I needed that. But you did. There were a lot of things that night that you just knew."

"You have very expressive eyes," he answered softly, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone. "All I had to do was pay attention."

Laura blinked back tears. "God, you really have no idea how amazing you are, do you?"

Kevin smiled crookedly. "Apparently not."

"You're just going to have to take my word for it, then. You are a gifted, giving lover, Kevin Collins. The way you touch me, the way you look at me, even the way you say my name… You make me feel like a woman again, and that's something I thought I'd lost for a long time. So don't you ever question whether you make me happy. Because you do."

He drew her head back down to his shoulder and hugged her hard, and she could hear him fighting some tears of his own. "Thank you," he finally murmured.

There were a few more things Laura wanted to say, but they could wait. Kevin was a very private person, and she didn't want to risk pushing him beyond his emotional borders in the middle of Lulu's den. He had heard her, and for now that was enough.

She lay quietly, gently running her open hand over his shoulder and upper arm, until his deathgrip on her relaxed and his breathing returned to normal.

"Better?"

"On a number of levels," he answered softly. "I-"

But whatever else he might have said was lost as Rocco came bursting into the room. "Come see, G'andma! Come see!"

Dante was two steps behind him, out of breath and looking apologetic. "Sorry. Future Olympic sprinter right there."

Rocco, to his credit, stopped on his own when he saw Laura and Kevin lying on the couch. "Sowwy. Was it naptime?"

Both of them laughed, but this time it was Laura who said, "No, it's alright. We're awake."

"I built a tall tower," Rocco said proudly, and after a moment added, "Daddy helped."

"This sounds like something we should see," Kevin said, and Laura smiled at him as she sat up, silently thanking him for being okay with the interruption.

After apologizing again, Dante went to light the grill, leaving Rocco to lead Laura and Kevin down the hall to his playroom to view the block tower. Which was, Laura had to admit, an impressive feat of block engineering. She told Rocco what a good job he had done, then listened in amusement as Kevin engaged him in a serious conversation about the tower's structure, asking him things like why it was bigger at the bottom than at the top.

 _Boys and their toys,_ she thought, and caught Kevin's eye over the top of Rocco's head, indicating in pantomime that she was going to see whether there was anything she could do to help with dinner. Kevin nodded, and Laura took herself to the kitchen, where she found Lulu standing at the island, literally up to her elbows in a giant bowl of salad greens.

"Need a hand with anything?"

"You know that's an offer I won't turn down." Lulu glanced up and saw that Laura was alone. "Rocco with Kevin?"

Laura nodded, then belatedly considered that perhaps she should have asked before leaving her daughter's child with her- Dammit, she really needed to decide on a word. _Boyfriend_ would do for now. "Yes. They're in the playroom discussing the finer points of block engineering. I hope that's alright."

"Sure, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I know the list of people you trust to watch Rocco is fairly short."

"Yes, it is. But Kevin is definitely on it." Lulu laughed a little. "My worst fear there would be that we'll go back to get them for dinner and find that they've actually built a working time machine. Or cloned themselves. Or something."

Laura snorted. "I wouldn't put it past them. When I left Kevin was-I kid you not-explaining the geometry principles behind the construction of the Great Pyramid. And Rocco seemed to be listening."

"That doesn't surprise me." Lulu pushed the bowl toward the center of the island so that both of them could reach it. "Speaking of Kevin, Dante told me Rocco fell asleep on him earlier. I am so sorry I missed that."

Laura wordlessly pulled out her phone and pulled up the better of the two pictures, then turned it to show Lulu.

"Oh, my God, they're adorable. Send that to me, please? Better yet, put it on Facebook so Lucky can see it, too."

"I don't think Kevin would mind my sending it to you, but I'll have to talk to him before posting it anywhere. I'm not sure how he'd feel about that."

"Ask him. It's too cute not to share."

"You do realize, of course, that that's going to require me to confess to taking the picture in the first place, right?"

Lulu laughed. "You got yourself into that one, Mom."

The two of them finished up the salad and got the rolls into the oven, and when Dante gave them the five minute warning on the steaks, Laura headed back to the playroom to tell Kevin and Rocco that it was dinnertime. She found them in the hall bathroom instead, already washing up for dinner. Kevin had Rocco up on his little step-stool in front of the sink, both of them soapy to the elbows.

Laura stopped in the doorway. "Are you two scrubbing for surgery?"

"We've been crawling around on the floor in search of lost blocks," Kevin answered easily. "A little extra handwashing seemed prudent."

Rocco paused in his rinsing to look up at Kevin. "What's…" He hesitated over the unfamiliar word, then said it slowly, visibly forcing himself to pronounce the r properly. "...prudent?"

"A smart thing to do," Kevin translated, and gently added, "Keep rinsing. I'm pretty sure your grandmother is here to tell us it's dinnertime."

"Indeed I am," Laura confirmed, and leaned against the doorframe to watch as Kevin and Rocco finished their ablutions and dried their hands. Rocco was watching Kevin closely and mimicking his every move-right down to using his left hand to turn off the water, Laura noted, and had to turn away to hide her smile so that her grandson wouldn't think she was laughing at him.

"Daddy puts me on his shoulders," Rocco said when they were done, looking up at Kevin expectantly.

Kevin looked consideringly from Rocco to the door and back again. "I think we'll be too tall for the doors, champ."

"Can we twy?"

"Sure. We'll do an experiment." Kevin lifted Rocco onto his shoulders, holding him securely, and walked slowly up to the doorway.

Laura stepped back and watched as Rocco leaned first one way, then the other, discovering for himself that the trick that worked when he was on Dante's shoulders didn't work with Kevin.

"What do you think?" Kevin asked after a moment.

"Not pwudent," Rocco answered, making Kevin laugh.

"Sadly, I concur. What we need is someone shorter…" He made a show of looking around, turning slowly in a circle while Rocco giggled.

Laura gave him a baleful look when he turned back around to look at her. "Kevin Collins, was that a short joke?"

"Short _er_. I said short _er_."

She snorted and held her hands up to Rocco, who mercifully managed the transfer without kicking either of them in the head. The three of them returned to the kitchen to amused looks from Lulu and Dante, who were just putting the last of the food on the table.

"Docto' Kevin is too tall," Rocco announced matter-of-factly, and allowed Kevin to lift him down from his perch atop Laura's shoulders and set him on his booster seat.

They all settled in at the table, Lulu and Dante on one side, Laura and Kevin on the other, Rocco on the end. Rocco's presence meant that their conversation over dinner would not revolve around Valentin Cassadine, and Laura was grateful. She knew that today was probably the calm before the storm, but she'd learned long ago to savor peace while it lasted. Right now four of the people she loved most in the world were here with her around this table, and she had every intention of enjoying their company.

Kevin fit in seamlessly, navigating the dividing line between polite dinner guest and honorary family member with such grace that he made it look easy, though Laura privately doubted that it was. His own table manners were beyond reproach, but when Rocco dropped his fork Kevin didn't hesitate to crawl under the table to retrieve it, give it a quick wash at the sink, and return it to its rightful owner (with, Laura noted, a softspoken admonition to be a little more careful).

"You really didn't have to do that," Lulu said when Kevin sat back down.

"Consider it nostalgia on my part. It's been a long time since my daughter needed help hanging onto her cutlery."

"How old is Christina?" Lulu asked curiously.

"Twenty-three," he answered, and wryly added, "Going on forty-five."

"An old soul?" Laura asked.

"You could put it that way, yes," he answered, smiling fondly. "If I believed in reincarnation I'd swear this isn't her first rodeo. She's just always been very...self-contained."

"God, we'll scare her to death," Lulu blurted, and looked as if she wished the floor would open up and swallow her.

But Kevin was laughing. "I think you'll find it would take more than your family to scare her, Lulu. She spent most of last summer backpacking in Peru-alone. _I_ was terrified out of my mind, but Christina had the time of her life."

"Oh, well, good. We're just kinda the Wild Bunch, you know? Especially when it's all of us together."

"Can you top a Thanksgiving that involved three kitchen fires, four long-lost relatives who turned out not to be relatives at all, a small-scale explosion, and having the police called to your house twice?"

Lulu blinked. "Actually...no."

"Then I hate to break it to you, but the Spencers have nothing on Clan Collins-Coe-Baldwin. I'd tell you the story, but Christina's rendition of it is much more colorful. She was fourteen at the time, and she remembers every detail vividly."

"And you don't?" Laura asked, thinking it sounded like a pretty unforgettable scenario.

"I was the one wielding the fire extinguisher every time Lucy set the kitchen on fire, so I was spared the full effect of everything else that was going on. It was actually Scott and Serena who ended up dealing with the police."

"Wait, I've heard this story," Laura realized aloud. "Scotty's part of it, anyway. He thought the gendarmes were about to haul him off in handcuffs."

Kevin nodded. "That was after the pressure cooker blew up."

"Wait, all of this really happened?" Dante asked, looking skeptical.

"Every bit of it. On a single day, no less."

"I have to hear this story," Lulu said. "Tell Christina that the next time she visits you we need to get together."

"I'll pass along the message," Kevin answered, and Laura was relieved to see that he didn't seem upset by Lulu's presumption. "Though this Christmas is my turn to fly to Paris, so that could be a while."

"You switch off, then?" Lulu asked.

Kevin nodded. "Last year she came here and spent the week before Christmas with me and the week after with Lucy. This year it's our turn to do the traveling, so Lucy will be in Paris the week before Christmas, and I'll be there the week after. Which means I'll be away on New Year's Eve," he added, turning to look at Laura apologetically. "But it was that or miss your birthday, and I _really_ didn't want to do that."

Laura was astonished to learn that Kevin even knew when her birthday was, much less that he had re-arranged his holiday travel plans-and apparently negotiated a week-swap with Lucy-to avoid missing it. "Thank you," she managed after a moment. "I appreciate that. But how did you…" She trailed off, seeing Lulu's guilty expression. "Oh, I see. A little bird told you."

"In her defense, I did _ask_."

Laura reached for his hand and gave it a little squeeze, hoping that the gesture would convey how touched she was by his consideration in a way that didn't require her to say it out loud in front of an audience. From the way his expression softened, she was pretty sure she'd made herself understood.

Rocco, who had long since finished his dinner, chose that moment to grow bored with the adults' conversation and attempt to climb down from his booster seat.

"And that's my cue," Lulu said, standing and catching him up in her arms. "Please excuse us. Bathtime awaits."

Laura and Kevin helped Dante clear the table, and Dante asked Kevin whether he would mind staying a little bit longer.

"No, why?"

"I'd like the four of us to talk after we get Rocco to bed. Kind of have a council of war, figure out what we're going to do about Valentin."

Kevin glanced questioningly at Laura, and she nodded. Kevin was involved in all of this whether she wanted him to be or not, and it was better that they all be on the same page.

Kevin returned his attention to Dante. "Sure, I'll be glad to stay."

The four of them adjourned to the den when Lulu returned, and Dante told them what his morning's research had turned up, which was just what Laura had feared. Valentin Cassadine really was a free man, subject to no further legal action either in Greece or on American soil.

"I just don't understand how that's possible," she said, doing her best to control her anger. None of this was Dante's fault, and it wasn't fair to kill the messenger. "He shot Kevin front of a roomful of witnesses! He tried to kidnap Spencer!"

"Look, nobody involved in this is claiming he's innocent. Believe me, the people I talked to in Greece sounded every bit as frustrated as I feel. But sometimes justice and the law can be pretty far apart from each other, and...well, this is one of those times."

Laura couldn't decide whether she wanted to cry or scream and throw things. Fortunately, Kevin spoke before she could do either.

"I'm less concerned with how he's able to be here and more worried about what he wants. Somehow I doubt that taking possession of Wyndemere is his highest ambition."

"Yeah, he doesn't really seem like the type to move in and settle down and keep his nose clean," Dante agreed.

"Do you think he's after us?" Lulu asked, and Laura saw her daughter's gaze drift toward the stairs. Toward Rocco.

"No," Dante answered, and sounded like he meant it. "But I think he's here for a reason, and I think he'll run over anyone who stands in his way."

"So we what, just lie low and let him get away with everything?" Laura demanded, unable to believe her ears.

"We wait for him to show his hand," Dante answered calmly. "Based on the guy's history, it won't be long before he does something else illegal that we _can_ arrest him for. But I'd rather that something not be harming any of us."

Dante was right, and Laura knew it, but she didn't want to wait. She wanted to do something. "Well, I for one am going to talk to Alexis tomorrow. There could still be something wrong with that document he forced Nikolas to sign."

"There could," Dante agreed, though he didn't sound hopeful. "Certainly there's no harm in checking. In the meantime, I think we'll all be fine as long as we don't do anything crazy." He looked pointedly at Kevin, who raised an eyebrow at him in return, looking almost amused.

"Do I look like a vigilante? I don't even own a gun."

"No, but I've seen how protective you can be of someone you care about." Dante tipped his head toward Laura. "And I imagine you're feeling about like I'm feeling on that front. So I'm telling you straight up-it's not a good idea."

The two men stared at each other for a long moment, and Laura got the sense that they were having an entire conversation on some channel her antenna didn't receive.

"Understood," Kevin finally said, and Dante sat back and nodded, apparently satisfied with that.

The four of them agreed to remain in close touch, checking in with one another regularly when they weren't together just in case something happened. It made Laura nervous to see that Dante seemed particularly concerned about Kevin, who lived alone and was therefore potentially more vulnerable.

Apparently Kevin sensed that, because when Dante and Lulu went up to bed (thoughtfully leaving Laura and Kevin to say their goodnights in private), the first thing Kevin did was wrap his arms around her and reassure her that he would be alright.

"Please just promise me you'll be careful," she whispered against his shoulder. "If anything happened to you…"

"I know," he murmured. "I feel the same way about you. And yes, I promise to be careful. Would you feel better if I texted you when I got home?"

Laura nodded, grateful that he had offered. She hadn't wanted to ask-he wasn't a child-but knowing he was safe would make her much more likely to actually sleep tonight.

"Okay. You'll be hearing from me soon, then." He pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "And in the morning, too. And you're coming to dinner, right?"

That made her smile. "Absolutely. What time?"

"Sevenish?"

"I'll be there."

Their goodnight kiss got a little out of hand, not that Laura minded, and by the time Kevin finally dragged himself out the door she was very, very ready for it to be seven o'clock the following evening. She watched out the window until he was safely in his car and out of the driveway, then locked up and set the alarm system.

Twenty minutes later she was lying awake when her phone's screen lit up, signaling the arrival of Kevin's promised text: **Home safe. Get some sleep. Tomorrow comes faster that way.**

She laughed and sent back, **Thanks. You too.**


	2. Chapter 2

The water for the pasta was just beginning to boil when Kevin heard Laura's knock at his door. He had spent the day waiting for that knock, and he was quick to turn down the burner and go to let her in. As lovely as the time with Laura and her family had been yesterday, he was really looking forward to having her to himself this evening. She was a little early, but that was fine by him. They could have a glass of wine while he finished up the-

A quick glance through the peephole derailed his train of thought entirely. It was Laura, alright, but she was crying. Had been crying for some time if her swollen eyes and tear-streaked face were any indication.

Kevin threw open the door and reached for her, taking her by the shoulders. "Laura, what's wrong? Did something happen to one of the kids?"

"The kids are fine," she managed, but that seemed to be all she could get out.

He shepherded her inside and threw the deadbolt behind her, then took her in his arms and drew her into a hug. She made a terrible little wounded-animal sound and burrowed closer to him, and Kevin slowly ran his hand over her back and shoulders and gently carded his fingers through her hair, checking for any sign of physical injury. He hoped she would tell him if someone had hurt her, but he wasn't willing to take any chances.

Laura must have realized what he was doing, because she raised her head from where she had buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder just enough to whisper, "I'm okay."

She was obviously a long way from okay, but Kevin was relieved to know that at least she wasn't injured. He wanted desperately to know what had happened to leave her in such a state, but she obviously wasn't ready to talk about it yet, so he just held her...until he remembered that burners were still on in the kitchen.

 _Damn,_ he thought, and started to draw back, but Laura fisted her hands into his shirt and clung to him, making him even more worried. If there was one thing Laura Spencer definitely wasn't, it was clingy.

He hugged her close again and hastened to reassure her. "It's okay, honey, you're safe. Shhhh, I've got you." He kissed her hair. "I just need to turn the stove off, okay? You can come with me to the kitchen if you want to."

She sniffled and pulled back a little, looking down. "I'm sorry. I'll try to… I'm just-"

Her voice broke, and Kevin decided he didn't care if the kitchen caught fire. He wrapped her up again and tucked her head under his chin and rocked her gently. "Easy, easy, I'm right here."

But Laura was nothing if not determined, and after another minute or so she got herself under control enough to pull away from him and softly say, "Go do whatever you need to do."

Kevin made it back to her in less than a minute, wrapping her up again and holding her close. _Please, please tell me what's wrong,_ he thought, but kept quiet, not wanting to push her.

After a few minutes Laura began to speak on her own, just as he'd hoped she would. "I saw Alexis," she whispered. "Mikkos left the entire Cassadine estate to Valentin in his will."

It took a minute for the significance of that to sink in, and when it did Kevin was so shocked that his mouth worked faster than his brain. "But if it was all already his-" He caught himself.

"He didn't have to kill Nikolas." She drew back to look up at him, grief and rage roiling in her eyes. "Or shoot you or any of the rest of it. He did it for sport."

God, no wonder Laura was all to pieces. Nikolas's death had already seemed senseless, but this…

"I'm so sorry," Kevin murmured, hating how inadequate those words sounded.

"And now he's just free," she continued. "He gets to menace us and steal Spencer's inheritance and laugh in our faces, and it's wrong!" The final words came out as something close to a shout, and Kevin recognized how desperately Laura needed to vent some of the pent-up emotion she was carrying around.

"Yes, it is," he agreed.

"He murdered Nikolas in cold blood. He held us hostage. He tried to take Spencer. He shot you. And apparently all of that is just fine!" She was getting progressively louder and more angry, and Kevin was relieved. As painful as it was to see her so upset, she was finally giving voice to her feelings.

She stepped back and began to tell him everything Alexis had said, her words now punctuated with sharp hand motions, explaining Mikkos's will and Valentin's smug assurance. She was crying again-now more from rage than sadness, he thought-and he let her go until she finally broke down completely, sobbing too hard to speak anymore. Then he gathered her up and held her again, ignoring her half-hearted attempt to push him away.

It took a long time for the storm to pass, and Kevin locked his arms around her and just held on. Laura cried like her bones were breaking, leaning more and more heavily on him until she would have collapsed entirely if not for his hold on her. Until eventually, inevitably, her body simply reached the point where she couldn't cry anymore.

Her breathing gradually calmed from wet, shuddering gasps to something resembling normal, and her trembling slowly eased. Kevin held her until she pulled away on her own, then loosened his hold enough to give her a little space.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was wrecked, and she was already scrubbing at her face with her hands, determinedly not looking up at him.

This tendency of hers to think she'd done something wrong every time she cried in front of him was a topic he wanted to address with her, but now obviously wasn't the time. Instead, Kevin pulled his handkerchief out of his back pocket and gave it to her, waiting patiently until she finally looked up, hesitantly meeting his eyes.

"I'm going to get you some water," he said, and tipped his head toward the hallway. "The bathroom is the first door on the left." Then he kissed her gently on the forehead and let her go, taking himself to the kitchen and deliberately giving her a few minutes to collect herself.

She was sitting on the couch in his living room when he returned, her face scrubbed clean, hands folded in her lap. Kevin sat down on the coffee table in front of her and offered her the promised glass of water. Her hands were still trembling, but she took it and drank about half of it before setting it aside.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I'm sorry for showing up here like this. I should have just called and-"

Kevin caught her hands in his and squeezed them gently, stopping her before she could go any further with that line of thinking. "I'm glad you came here. I'm glad you trust me enough to come to me for comfort. You don't ever have to apologize for that."

She looked down at their joined hands. "It just feels like you're always seeing me at my worst. You must be so tired of this."

Kevin decided that drastic measures were called for. "Is that really what you think of me?" he asked quietly. "That I only care about you or want to be with you when you're happy?"

Laura's eyes snapped back up to his. "No," she said quickly. "Oh, Kevin, no, that's not what I meant at all."

He consciously gentled his tone, not wanting her to think he was angry with her. "Then please don't say things like that. I can't imagine ever being _tired_ of caring about you, and it really bothers me that you seem to believe you're some sort of burden to me."

She started to say something and stopped. Kevin waited.

"I know you don't feel that way," she finally said slowly. "But...I don't really understand why. I've brought you nothing but trouble."

Kevin bit back the immediate urge to tell her that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. Not because it wasn't true, but because he doubted it would be constructive at this particular moment.

"Do you remember what I told you the day I asked you out?" he asked instead. "What you told me I'd already said on the plane?"

"That you were sleepwalking," she murmured. "That I woke you up."

He nodded. "That was the truth. Before I met you, I got up, I went to work, I came home, I ate dinner alone, I killed some time breaking codes, I went to bed-also alone, and the next day I got up and did exactly the same thing all over again. It was _Groundhog Day_ without Bill Murray's sense of humor."

Laura didn't quite smile, but he could see the suggestion of one in her eyes.

"The saddest part is, I'd been so numb for so long that I honestly thought that was normal," Kevin continued. "I'd stopped even feeling the loneliness."

Her hands tightened on his, and he knew she was really listening.

"And then one evening I got this strange e-mail from a mysterious woman whose arch-enemy had died and left her a scavenger hunt in the form of a coded message. It sounded like a prank, but I thought, _What the hell-it's not like I've really got anything better to do._ And a couple of weeks later, I went to meet this mystery woman...and there you were. Caught up in Helena's mystery and looking for help and so alive that the air around you practically crackled."

Laura blinked, apparently startled by that description.

"And that night-literally that very night-I came home and looked around and realized that my apartment looked like a dorm room, that it had been six months since I'd had a conversation outside of work with anyone other than my daughter, and that the leftovers in my freezer were alphabetized, which was probably a warning sign."

This time the smile reached Laura's lips, and he thought he'd almost gotten a laugh out of her.

 _There's my girl,_ Kevin thought, and barely stopped himself from saying it out loud. "My life is so much richer with you in it, Laura. Not just you but Lulu and Dante and Rocco and Spencer- Excuse me, the Noble Patriarch."

Now she did laugh, and Kevin felt himself relax. She might not be okay, but she was back.

"So please don't say you've brought me nothing but trouble," he concluded, "because nothing could be farther from the truth."

"Thank you," Laura said after a moment. "I just wish for your sake that my family and I didn't come prepackaged with a curse."

"I'll take my chances. You're worth it."

A series of emotions quicksilvered through her eyes, surprise and gratitude among those Kevin could put names to. "You really are the most wonderful man," she murmured.

He smiled. "Wonderful enough to convince you to have dinner with me anyway, in spite of everything else that's happened today?"

She hesitated. "I'm sorry, but I'm really-"

"Not hungry?" he guessed.

Laura shook her head, looking apologetic.

"You need to eat," Kevin said gently. "Humor me, okay? Just try enough to give me your opinion about the marinara. It's an ongoing experiment."

"Alright. The least I can do is keep you company."

"That's the spirit." He stood and drew her to her feet as well. "Come sit at the breakfast counter. You can supervise while I finish things up."

Laura laughed. "Judging from how good it smells, I don't think you need any supervision, but okay."

Kevin kept hold of her hand and led her to the kitchen, where she spent the next several minutes waxing rhapsodic over his recent renovations and how much she loved what he'd had done. At first he thought she was just being polite, but gradually it sank in that her enthusiasm was genuine...and that she knew an awful lot about commercial ranges, Sub-Zero refrigerators, and the value of accessible counter space.

"You cook," he said as soon as he could get a word in edgewise.

"Yes," she answered. "And I have to admit that's one thing I won't miss about Wyndemere. The kitchen staff was always horrified that I preferred to do things myself."

"Well, you're welcome to come play in my kitchen anytime you like," he offered, remembering the cramped kitchen at Lulu and Dante's house.

Laura turned a serious look on him. "Don't say that if you don't mean it, because I _will_ take you up on it. This is pretty much the kitchen I've always dreamed about."

"Well, since you love it _that_ much, would you like to help me finish up our dinner?"

"If I won't be underfoot, sure."

"I'll leave the pasta entirely in your capable hands," Kevin answered, pulling the package out of the refrigerator and laying it on the worktop beside the stove. "That way we won't trip over each other."

And for the next half hour he had the entirely novel experience of sharing a kitchen with someone who was actually a help rather than a hindrance to getting a meal on the table. Laura not only handled the pasta, which turned out perfectly _al dente,_ but also volunteered to chop the basil he'd forgotten to prep for the sauce and to grate some parmesan from the block he pulled out of the freezer.

Something of his amazement must have shown on his face, because she looked up at him through the cloud of steam from draining the pasta and curiously said, "What?"

"I'm just not used to having help that's actually helpful."

"Ah. Yes, I gathered from the story you told last night that Lucy's not much of a cook."

"Lucy can literally burn water," Kevin confirmed. "It's the damndest thing I've ever seen. So if you actually know a lemon reamer from a garlic press, brace yourself, because I may pass out from the shock."

He returned to working on the sauce, hearing drawers open and close behind him but thinking nothing of it until Laura said his name and he turned to find her standing there with the lemon reamer in one hand and the garlic press in the other.

"I even know which is which," she stage-whispered.

Kevin couldn't help but laugh. "Consider me duly impressed."

"You can be impressed when you've tasted my chicken marsala," she answered.

"If that's what sharing my kitchen gets me, I am definitely on board with this plan."

By the time they got the food on the table Laura seemed to have forgotten that she wasn't hungry. Kevin had better sense than to comment, but he was quietly pleased to see her take a proper helping of pasta. He was even more pleased when she liked it.

"Is there nutmeg in this?" she asked about four bites in.

"There is," he confirmed, "though you're the first person who's ever figured that out. It's the secret ingredient."

"I promise not to tell."

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, until Kevin looked up to find her studying him with an oddly speculative look on her face.

"What?" he asked.

Laura shook her head.

"Oh, c'mon, you can't look at me like that and not explain. What?"

"It's just…" She hesitated, then blurted, "How are you still single? I mean, you're smart, you're funny, you're handsome, you're good in bed, and you cook like a chef with Michelin Stars. You're basically one adorable pet away from being Romance Novel Guy."

Kevin stared at her for a long moment. "You know," he finally said, "if you keep that up my head is going to be too big to fit out the door in the morning."

"But it's all true."

"Actually, no, it's not. You got a couple of things wrong."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "Thing one: I have a cat. I'm not sure how he'd feel about being called adorable, but he can be cute when it suits his purposes. I'd introduce you, but he was so traumatized by the renovation project that he basically hasn't come out from under the loveseat in my study since the workmen left."

"So you _are_ Romance Novel Guy."

"If you say so. Which brings me to thing two: I'm _not_ single. I'm in a relationship. With you."

Now it was Laura's turn to stare, and Kevin was afraid he'd said too much. They hadn't really talked about exactly what they were to each other. They hadn't even explicitly agreed not to date other people, though Kevin had no desire to do that anyway and really hoped Laura didn't either. It was entirely possible that he'd just put his foot in his mouth up to his hip.

But after a moment Laura reached across the table and took his hand. "Thank you," she said softly. "I didn't realize how badly I needed to hear that until I actually heard you say it. And just so we're clear, I feel the same way."

"I'm glad," Kevin answered, and looked down at their joined hands, gently brushing his thumb across her knuckles. He wanted very badly to ask her exactly what those words meant to her, but he was well aware that now might not be the best time. Laura had already had an extremely emotional day, and the last thing he wanted was to-

"Kevin?"

"Sorry," he said hastily, realizing that it must seem to Laura as if he'd just dropped out of their conversation entirely. "Sometimes I think too much. Occupational hazard." He released her hand and sat back, planning to leave it at that.

But Laura surprised him. "Whatever it is, you can say it. You can say anything to me."

Kevin hesitated, and instead of pushing him Laura simply picked up her fork and went back to eating. He slowly did the same, until a few minutes later he had his thoughts in good enough order to say, "Being in a relationship means different things to different people nowadays. I'm pretty sure you and I are on the same page, but...I guess I'd just like to confirm that."

"I'm on the page where we're officially a couple and aren't sharing each other with anyone else, if that's what you're asking."

"That's what I meant, yes," he answered, realizing belatedly that he could have just come right out and said that. Laura wasn't the type to be offended by directness.

As she proved a moment later. "It's also the page where I really want us to have a future together. Which I don't think I'm supposed to say until at least six months from now, but I also don't think the people who come up with those rules really had us in mind."

Kevin laughed. "No, I think there's been a lot about our relationship so far that the dating experts wouldn't approve of. But it seems to be working for us. What do you say we just keep making it up as we go along?"

"I like that plan."

"Good. Because I want us to have a future together, too," he said more seriously. "I don't much care for the thought of my life without you in it anymore."

"I wouldn't want to go back to that, either. It was hard while we were apart. I thought I could just go back to being alone, you know? I'd been so used to it. But it wasn't like that. I was lonely. I really missed you."

"I missed you, too."

Laura smiled. "I know. You flew to Switzerland to talk to me."

"I flew to Switzerland to throw myself on your mercy," Kevin answered. "And I appreciate that you decided to show some."

"I could tell you really were sorry. And the book-length love letter didn't hurt."

"I meant it. Every word."

"I know. No one's ever…" She hesitated. "Does it bother you to hear me talk about Scotty and Luke?"

Kevin shook his head. "No. You can say anything to me, too."

"Thank you. Scotty, uhm...Scotty knew me. From the time I was just a kid, he knew me, and he understood what made me tick. But I don't think he ever really loved me, not the way I wanted to believe he did. He loved the idea of me as his wife, but that's not the same thing. You know?"

"I think I understand what you mean, yes."

"And Luke was just the opposite. He loved me, but he loved this...this idealized version of me he had in his head. His angel. He used to call me that. But I'm not an angel. I'm just a person. And I think that's sort of what happened to us. As I grew up and grew into myself, I grew farther and farther away from that picture in his mind of what he wanted me to be."

"That must have been a very painful thing to realize," Kevin said quietly.

Laura nodded. "It was. For both of us. We hurt each other terribly."

Kevin privately suspected that Luke deserved the lion's share of the blame for both their pain, but it wasn't his place to comment other than to say, "I'm sorry you got hurt."

"I learned from it," she said after a moment. "And part of what I decided during the time I spent alone was that I didn't ever want anyone to put me on a pedestal again. That if I was going to be with someone I wanted him to really see me. To really know me. But then when I realized just how well you _did_ know me, it scared me a little. Because I couldn't imagine that you could know me that way and still…care about me as much as you seemed to."

Laura's little pause had been very brief, probably not even something most people would have noticed. But Kevin listened for a living, and he'd spent years honing his ability to hear what someone had _almost_ said. And he was certain that Laura had just edited herself to avoid using the word _love._ Probably because she didn't want him to think she was pushing him to say it.

When in reality, he didn't need a push. If anything, he'd been holding himself back from saying it, afraid that they hadn't been together long enough to make it okay. But they had just agreed to make up their own rules, and not saying it didn't make it any less true.

"Now see," he said, looking her in the eye, "that's where you're mistaken. Because at least for me, to know you is to love you, Laura Spencer. And I do love you. Very much."

Laura's eyes widened, and she bobbled her fork and nearly dropped it before managing to set it down safely on the edge of her plate. Then she looked up again, and the depth of emotion in her eyes took Kevin's breath away.

"I love you, too." She reached out and took his hand again. "God, you have no idea how badly I wanted to tell you that last night. Seeing you with Lulu and Rocco yesterday… I mean, I already knew, but that just…" Words seemed to fail her, but the tender way she was looking at him spoke volumes.

Kevin gave her hand a little squeeze, then released it, allowing instinct to propel him out of his chair and around the table to kneel beside her. She turned toward him, and they wrapped their arms around each other and held on tightly. A minute or so passed in silence, and Kevin at least was grateful for the time to let the universe settle back into place around himself. As wonderful as it felt not to be a man alone anymore, it was going to take a little getting used to.

When they finally drew back enough to look at each other, there was a smile on Laura's face that he'd never seen before, though he strongly suspected that it mirrored a similar expression on his own face. Then she ducked her head and kissed him softly, and everything else faded away. It was far from the deepest kiss they'd shared, but something about it felt different. More sure, more real, just...more.

Laura rested her forehead against his when they finally drew apart. "We should probably actually finish eating," she murmured, sounding like the words were costing her dearly. "Or at least I should. I don't think I ate breakfast, and I know I skipped lunch, and I'd hate to run out of energy...later."

Kevin's mind instantly treated him to a remarkably vivid mental image of exactly what _later_ might entail. Then the rest of what she'd said registered fully, and he pulled back to look at her properly. "Wait, you haven't eaten anything all day?"

Laura laughed softly.

"What?" he asked.

"You just shift gears faster than most guys, that's all."

Kevin decided to take that as a compliment. He also took himself back to his own side of the table. Being close enough to Laura to smell her perfume was not going to help his self-control one bit, and he had a guest to feed. A starving one, apparently.

They finished their meal chatting about lighter topics, but every time their eyes met they exchanged those smiles again. Laura's suddenly-bare foot also found Kevin's under the table, and he made a mental note not to ever play poker with her unless he wanted to lose, because nothing in her facial expression even suggested that she was slowly and gleefully driving him crazy. He played along and tried not to visibly react, though twice he couldn't quite manage to keep his voice steady when she found a particularly sensitive spot.

By the time their plates were empty Kevin was finding it very difficult to concentrate on what Laura was saying, and he strongly suspected that she knew it. She could easily have repaid him in kind for his "pan-fried possum" remark on their lunch date, but she didn't seem to be interested in teasing him. Not that way, anyway.

Then she stood up to carry her plate to the kitchen, and it took everything he had not to just reach out and wrap his arm around her waist and pull her down into his lap. Instead he picked up his own plate and followed her, and somehow they managed to clear the table, put away the leftovers, and load the dishwasher without pouncing on one another. When he straightened from bending over to close the dishwasher and turned to find Laura dragging her gaze back up to his face from the general vicinity of his ass, however...well, then all bets were off.

"See something you like?" he asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"As a matter of fact, yes," she answered, unrepentant. And so saying, she stepped into him, backed him up against the counter, and proceeded to kiss him senseless.

Kevin happily let his brain go offline for a few minutes, his body proving itself quite capable of taking over. Laura felt wonderful pressed against him this way. She was all woman, warm and soft and curved in all the right places, not a hard edge or a sharp angle to be found anywhere. He allowed his hands to roam, seeking the places that made her breathing catch and her body rock against his.

It wasn't until she abandoned his mouth and began to kiss her way back along the underside of his jaw toward his ear that Kevin realized they needed to get out of the kitchen.

Immediately.

"I do have a couch," he reminded her raggedly. "If you'd like to make out like teenagers some more."

"I hope you have a bed," she answered, her breath hot on his ear. "Because I'd really rather make love like grownups."

Kevin's head spun, and he tightened his grip on her hips to steady himself. He wanted that, too-God, did he ever-but there was something he had to know first.

"Can you stay? Tonight and...and tomorrow, for a while?" Because he didn't think he could stand it if she got up and left, not after what had happened the last time.

Something of that must have come through in his voice, because there was a soft look of understanding in Laura's eyes when she drew back to look up at him.

"Of course," she murmured.

Kevin took her by the hand and led her down the hall to his bedroom, bypassing the switch for the overhead light and instead turning on the small lamp on the dresser. And as he turned to take Laura in his arms again, he was suddenly struck anew by how beautiful she was and by how lucky he was that this amazing woman had chosen him.

She reached up to run her fingers through his hair and softly said, "I love the way you look at me."

The way she was looking at him was pretty extraordinary, too, and Kevin cupped his palm along her jaw and kissed her again, slowly now, taking his time. They had all night, and he intended to show her in no uncertain terms exactly how much she meant to him.

He splayed his free hand just below her ribcage and stroked slowly downward, tracing the curve of her waist and the contour of her hip. On the way back up he got his fingers underneath her blouse, touching bare skin, and Laura's soft gasp broke the kiss. Kevin shifted to bury his nose in her hair and breathed her in, getting the faint citrus tang of her shampoo and the subtle spice of her perfume and beneath all that the unique scent that was simply Laura, warm and feminine and alive.

"God, you smell good," he whispered against her ear.

"Mmmm, so do you." She nuzzled the base of his throat in a very distracting way. "You don't wear anything, do you?"

It took his mind a moment to make sense of the words. "No," he admitted when he finally understood the question. Once he'd decided that he was out of the dating game for good he hadn't seen the point of aftershave or cologne or any of the rest of it, and until now it hadn't occurred to him to wonder whether that might bother Laura.

"I'm glad," she murmured before he could worry too much about it. "There's really nothing sexier..." She pressed a slow, open-mouthed kiss just below his ear. "...than a man who smells like a man."

"Glad you approve," he managed, wondering whether what she was doing to his neck might actually be illegal in the state of New York-not that he cared.

Her fingers found the top button of his shirt and deftly unfastened it, then dropped to the next one. Kevin followed suit, unbuttoning her blouse. He discovered along the way that her bra had one of those wonderfully convenient front clasps, so when he finished with the buttons he dispensed with that as well, brushing the lace-edged fabric aside and succumbing to the temptation to touch her more fully.

Laura hummed in pleasure as he cupped her breasts, gently taking their weight and feeling her nipples peak against his palms, and her hands came up to cover his. Kevin allowed her to guide him, letting her show him how she liked to be touched. Gently at first, then more firmly as her breathing grew ragged and her eyes began to fall closed.

"Look at me," he whispered.

She did, and Kevin lost his breath. God, she was beautiful like this. And that look in her eyes-that hot, wild, _I want you_ look-that was for him. Everything he felt for her suddenly rose up in him at once, love and desire and aching need coalescing into something he couldn't control, and his body moved without his conscious permission.

Laura moved, too, and they surged against each other, kissing hungrily now. She grabbed fistfuls of his open shirt and pressed herself against him like she just couldn't get close enough, making a sound low in her throat that had every masculine instinct in him howling in response. The small part of Kevin's mind that was still functioning revised its plans: Slow-and-easy was going to have to wait for round two, because this was happening _now_.

Their clothes ended up all over the room, getting naked suddenly a higher priority than anything else. Kevin dragged back the covers, and they fell onto the bed in a messy tangle of limbs, spending the next few minutes in a playful tussle over who was going to end up on top, which he would later realized Laura had let him win. From there Kevin's perception of the evening slid out of focus, becoming a blur of heat and need punctuated with odd moments of perfect clarity that he would remember forever.

The way her body arched against his when he took a hard-peaked nipple into his mouth and sucked softly.

The low, whimpery sound she made when he abandoned her breasts and began to kiss his way down her belly.

The way her fingers clutched at his hair when he tasted her intimately for the first time.

The sound of her voice breaking on his name as her body shuddered and shook.

The soft, dazed look in her eyes when he moved back up to gather her into his arms.

The deft gentleness of her fingers rolling the condom onto him because his own hands were shaking too badly.

And finally the soft, welcoming heat of her body as she guided him inside her and wrapped her legs around his hips, whispering that he didn't have to hold back, that she wanted to feel him. Shortly after which his peripheral vision whited out, and he said something without knowing what it was, and then there was only pleasure and warm, velvet darkness.

Kevin returned to himself some unknown time later to find that he had collapsed on top of Laura, who was holding him close and slowly running her fingers through his sweaty hair. _I should move,_ he thought, and tried, only to find that his arms weren't all that keen on supporting him just yet.

Which he supposed was okay since Laura held onto him anyway, murmuring, "Stay. Please stay."

He settled back down and let himself drift for a while, enjoying the sensation of Laura's fingertips tracing aimless patterns over his shoulders and upper back. It had been a long time since he'd felt quite this thoroughly taken-apart after making love, and he appreciated her willingness to give him a few minutes.

She did speak again eventually, softly asking, "Are you alright?"

He raised up onto his forearms-he could do that again, now-and looked at her curiously. "Did I seem like I wasn't?"

It wasn't until she reached up to touch his face and her fingers came away wet that Kevin realized he'd been crying. Laura didn't seem particularly alarmed by that, just gently concerned.

"I feel...really good, actually," he said slowly, and searched for the words to explain.

But Laura didn't seem to expect an explanation, simply smiling in acceptance and saying, "Good."

Kevin did move off her, then, rolling away to deal with the condom and then back to wrap himself around her again. "Come here."

She cuddled against him, stretching like a contented cat before settling down with her head on his shoulder. "Does it still hurt?" she murmured after a moment.

It took him a moment to realize that she was looking at the place where Valentin had shot him. "No, it's fine now." She tentatively brushed her fingertips over the puckered skin, and Kevin caught her hand and gently encouraged her to really touch. "See?"

She draped herself across his chest and pressed a soft kiss to the scar, then lay down again, leaving her hand resting over it protectively. "That was when I realized," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "How much more you were to me than just a friend, I mean. When I saw you fall. Because at first I thought..."

Kevin tightened his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Shhhh, I'm fine. Don't go back there in your head, okay? Stay here with me."

"Here with you is a good place," she answered, and he was happy to hear the smile in her voice. "The best place I've been in a long time."

"For me, too," he agreed.

They were quiet for a little while, and then Laura asked curiously, "When did _you_ know?"

"That I was falling in love with you? When I found myself on a plane to Greece with no real logical explanation for what the hell I was doing there."

Laura laughed, then surprised him with a serious question. "Did it scare you?"

"God, yes. I'd spent two years building a wall around my heart, and all of a sudden there you were inside it. I was terrified."

She brushed her thumb along his collarbone. "Are you ever still scared?"

"Yes," he admitted. "But now it's not that I'm afraid of loving you. I'm just afraid I'll screw it up again."

Laura pushed herself up to look at him, her expression as serious as he'd ever seen it. "Please don't be afraid of that. You're not on probation. I'm not lying in wait for you to do something wrong so I can run away again. I was wrong to run the first time. I understand now how badly that hurt you, and I'm sorry."

"Laura, it's okay. You had every right-"

"No. You made a mistake, and I punished you like you'd deliberately set out to hurt me. You tried to apologize, and I wouldn't let you. And now I've made you afraid. Nothing about that is okay."

Kevin wanted to tell her that it really was fine, that she was here now and that was all that mattered. But she was right. It _had_ hurt. Badly enough that he'd had actual nightmares about that morning, waking more than once with the bitter finality of her parting _Goodbye, Kevin_ ringing in his ears. And hearing her acknowledge that went a long way toward easing his fear.

"I accept your apology." The words felt oddly formal given their current position, but he needed to say it, and she obviously needed to hear it. "Thank you."

She moved up so that they were eye to eye and cupped her hand along his jaw, almost resting her forehead against his. "I don't ever want you to be scared because of me, not when you make me feel so safe."

That was good to hear on a number of levels, and Kevin reached up to sweep Laura's hair away from her eyes, framing her face with his hands. "I'm glad you feel safe with me."

They looked at each other for a quiet moment, and then Laura lowered her head and kissed him, long and soft and slow. Her body melted down against his, and Kevin was pleased to realize that round two might be possible sooner than he'd expected. They did have some lost time to make up for, after all. And Laura seemed to be of like mind, her hand drifting down to stroke along his flank and down to his hip. Then all at once she was pulling away from him, and Kevin made an unhappy sound, protesting the sudden loss of her soft warmth.

"Relax," she murmured. "I'm not going anywhere. I just want you to turn over."

He started to ask why, then decided it didn't particularly matter. If Laura wanted him to turn over, he'd turn over. He resettled himself on his belly, and a moment later Laura was straddling his hips and running her hands over his back and shoulders and up into his hair, petting him like a cat and instantly awakening every nerve ending in her path. It wasn't quite a massage-she wasn't using that much pressure-but it felt wonderful, and she definitely had Kevin's undivided attention.

"Tell me if I do anything you don't like," she said matter-of-factly, and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes touching him in different ways, everything from the firm press of her open hands to the feather-light scratch of her nails, sometimes faster and sometimes slower, as Kevin alternately sank deeper into the mattress and arched against her hands. He had been touch-starved for so long that this sudden feast was total sensory overload, and it was all he could do to keep still and let her explore. Then she stretched herself out along his back and opened her mouth against the nape of his neck, and he had to dig his fingers into the mattress to avoid embarrassing himself.

"Too much?" Laura murmured.

Kevin huffed an uneven laugh. "Depends on how you want this to end."

She eased herself off to the side. "Come here."

He had just enough presence of mind to grab another condom before rolling to face her, and Laura took it from there, turning the necessary pause into a moment of gentle foreplay. Then she threw her leg over his hip, and the time time for foreplay was over.

"Is this okay?" she asked, eyes on his.

The position, he assumed she meant, because what about this could possibly _not_ be okay? "This is perfect."

They eased together slowly, taking their time, and the sound Laura made when they got the angle just right made Kevin very grateful for the extra measure of control his earlier climax afforded him now. Much as he wished they could just make love all night, he wasn't twenty-five anymore. This was likely to be it for the evening, and he wanted to make it count.

Laura had her lower lip caught between her teeth, and her eyes had fallen closed. Kevin was ninety-nine percent sure that was pleasure and not pain, but ninety-nine percent wasn't good enough. They'd been pretty vigorous earlier, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

"Laura?" he whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Very okay," she murmured back, putting paid to his worries, then opened her eyes to smile at him and playfully added, "Completely. Totally. Unquestionably."

Kevin laughed softly, recognizing the quote, and wrapped his hand around her hip as he slowly began to move. Laura dropped her head back, and he lowered his mouth to her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses from the base of her throat up to the hinge of her jaw, stopping just short of her ear to ever-so-lightly scrape his teeth along the sensitive skin just below it.

Then he paused, politely saying, "I'm about to do that thing to your ear again. Consider yourself warned."

Laura's answering laugh turned into a gasp as he drew her earlobe into his mouth and flicked the tip of his tongue against her earring. The remarkable sensitivity of her ears had been one of the first things he'd discovered about her that night in his hotel room, and now he was enjoying learning the more subtle nuances of exactly what turned her on the most.

"Please," she breathed, clutching at him.

He deliberately let his lips brush her ear. "Please what? Tell me what you want."

She was breathing heavily now, almost panting. "I...oh...your voice...please…"

His voice? This was new, but it was a request he could easily oblige. So he dropped his voice into its lowest register and warmed her ear with his breath, telling her how beautiful she was and incredible it felt to be inside her and feel her respond to his touch, to know that he could give her as much pleasure as she gave him.

And Laura slowly came undone in his arms. Her nails dug into his shoulder, her leg wrapped tighter around his, and the instinctive thrust of her hips became harder and more insistent. Until at last she cried out, high and sharp and startled-sounding, as if her own orgasm had taken her by surprise. Kevin rested his forehead against hers and rode it out with her, feeling her clench and shudder as he splayed his hand over her lower back and locked her against him. He held her until she stopped shaking, then slowly ran his open hand over her back and side and hip, gentling her back into herself.

"Wow," she murmured, sounding a little dazed. Kevin was almost sure she hadn't meant to say that out loud, and he hid his smile against her cheek. Then he raised his head to look at her, returned his hand to her hip, and thrust gently, watching her eyes widen. "K-Kevin?"

"I wanted to watch you." His voice was ragged, and he couldn't stop himself from thrusting again. He was nearing the limits of his control, but Laura's body was still thrumming with energy, and he was pretty sure he could take her with him when he went. He found her hand and brought it down to his hip. "Move with me."

They rocked against each other, and Kevin allowed himself to let go, instinct moving his body now as he reached the point of no return. Laura was watching him, and he fought to keep his eyes open, wanting to give her that. Until finally he simply couldn't anymore, closing his eyes and shouting hoarsely as pleasure pulsed through him in bright, shattering waves. Laura made a sound, too, then, and there was a sudden sharp sting as she forgot to be mindful of her fingernails. Any other time it might have hurt, but right now it only registered as a burst of added intensity.

Kevin did manage not to collapse on her this time, rolling them so that she rested half on top of him instead of the other way around. He was breathing like a steam bellows, and he had that strange, floaty, one-with-the-Universe feeling that occasionally accompanied a particularly mind-blowing orgasm. _Damn, I didn't know I was still that good,_ he thought, and really hoped he hadn't said that out loud.

Then again, Laura seemed to be just as wrecked as he was, sprawled over his chest with her face buried in his neck. She was panting, too, and Kevin couldn't help feeling a little smug.

A feeling that only intensified when she eventually mumbled, "I don't think I can move."

He laughed, shaking both of them. "Do you hear me complaining?"

"Can you breathe?"

"Yes, honey, I can breathe just fine."

"Then I'm just gonna stay here for a while. Give me a week or so."

Kevin laughed again. "Okay."

It was actually only about ten minutes before she pushed herself up on her arms to look at him and said matter-of-factly, "One of these days we're going to kill each other."

"Just think what a scandal that'll be," he said, managing to keep a straight face.

Laura laughed, then pulled a face as she peeled herself off him. "We're a mess."

"Indeed we are," he agreed lazily. "Can I interest you in a shower?"

She gave him a suspicious look.

Kevin snorted. "Honey, I'm fifty-six years old. If you think I have anything in mind other than getting cleaned up, you have a little too much faith in my stamina."

"Your stamina is damned impressive, and you know it." She rolled over and sat up on the side of the bed. "Come on, old man. I got a look at your shower earlier, and I'm not getting in there by myself."

"What's wrong with my shower?"

"It looks like something out of the Jetsons. Is a robot arm going to brush my teeth?"

"No, but if you play your cards right I might wash your hair." He hesitated. "If you're, uhm...into that sort of thing." Their present comfortable banter aside, they were still pretty new lovers. He didn't want to assume too much.

But Laura looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "I'd like that." Then she got up and sauntered off toward the bathroom, naked as the day she was born and clearly not the least bit self-conscious about it.

By the time he caught up with her a few minutes later she had apparently come to terms with his recently-renovated bathroom and its admittedly ostentatious shower. He assumed so, anyway, since she was standing under the rainfall showerhead with her face turned up into the water, humming softly.

"What was that about my shower?" he asked amusedly, opening the door to join her.

"I take it back," she answered without opening her eyes. "This thing is amazing."

Kevin sighed dramatically. "I see how it is. The kitchen, the shower-you're in lust with my apartment."

Laura laughed and reached for him, dragging him under the water with her. "Come here, you. I'd love you if you lived in a cardboard box, and you know it."

He did know that, and the knowledge felt extraordinarily good. He pressed a kiss to her wet head, then said, "Will you really let me wash your hair?"

Laura pretended to consider. "It'll be a terrible hardship," she finally said, "but I think I can muddle through."

"You're in rare form tonight," he observed, reaching for the shampoo.

"You have only yourself to blame. You should have come with a warning label."

Kevin raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh? And what would it say, pray tell?"

"Caution: May cause an extreme state of blissed-out euphoria. Do not operate heavy machinery."

He made a show of looking around them. "Fortunately, I don't see any heavy machinery."

"That's good, because I'm-" She stopped abruptly, staring down at his right side.

"What?" Kevin asked, and followed her line of sight to find an impressive set of parallel scratches that ran up his flank from his hip nearly to his ribcage, the pink lines stark against his pale skin. "Oh, that. Yeah, you got me a little there at the end."

"A little? Kevin-"

"It's fine," he said firmly. "You didn't break the skin, and I don't mind the marks." He was proud as hell of the marks, was what he was.

Laura looked at him uncertainly.

"I promise," he said, looking her in the eye.

"Okay," she said after a moment, and he saw the tension go out of her shoulders. "I'm just a little shocked at myself. I mean, I don't normally, uhm…"

Kevin smiled wolfishly.

Laura smacked him on the chest. "Oh, my God, you are such a guy."

"If you're just figuring that out now we _really_ need to talk about your powers of observation."

She snorted and tipped her head back into the water to wet her hair again. "Less teasing, more washing, Collins."

"Yes, ma'am."

Laura really did let him wash her hair, and he made a careful, thorough job of it, enjoying the happy little humming sounds she made as he massaged her scalp.

"You're going to smell like my shampoo," he said ruefully as he was rinsing the lather out of her hair. Then his mouth ran away from him, opening again to say quite without his permission, "You should bring some of your stuff here." _Very smooth,_ he thought, irritated with himself. _Why don't you just go ahead and invite her to move in with you?_

But Laura took the suggestion in stride, smiling with her eyes still closed against the water. "Gee, I don't know. Do you think there's room? This shower stall is so tiny."

"Very funny. Keep teasing me about this shower, and I won't let you play in my kitchen."

"I'll behave," she said quickly.

"I thought so." He weighed his options, then decided _In for a penny, in for a pound._ "You really are welcome to bring some things here. Toiletries or clothes or...whatever. I'll clear you out some space."

She looked at him so seriously that for a moment he was afraid he'd overdone it, but then she smiled slowly and said, "Thank you. I'd really appreciate that."

Then she closed her eyes again, allowing her head to grow heavy in his hands. Kevin took the hint and went back to rinsing her hair, and when he was finished found that he was enjoying this too much to want to stop there. So when Laura straightened and murmured a quiet _thank you_ and reached for the soap, he laid his hand over hers, stilling it gently.

"Let me?"

She looked up at him in surprise, and Kevin could see her uncertainty. However delightfully uninhibited she might be about sex, she obviously wasn't used to allowing herself to be cared for in other ways. But intimacy came in many forms, and this kind of caretaking came as naturally to Kevin as breathing. _Please,_ he thought, looking into her eyes. _Please let me do this for you._

"Alright," she said after a few seconds. "But only if I get to return the favor."

That was unexpected, but he certainly wasn't about to object. "Of course."

He lathered his hands and laid them lightly on her shoulders, and after a moment Laura relaxed and gave him a little nod. It was a tremendous display of trust, and Kevin did everything in his power to honor that. He took his time, moving slowly and allowing her to get used to the feel of his soap-slick hands on her back and arms and upper chest before moving on to more intimate places.

By the time he was done he had touched literally every single inch of her from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, and he looked up from kneeling in front of her to find her blinking back tears.

"Laura?"

"Thank you," she said softly, and Kevin relaxed, recognizing that this was the good kind of crying.

"You're welcome," he answered.

He continued to kneel while she washed and rinsed his hair, then stood and allowed her to work her way down from there. She was every bit as gentle and careful with him as he had been with her, which didn't surprise Kevin at all. What did surprise him was the strength of his own reaction. Laura, he realized belatedly, wasn't the only one who wasn't used to being looked after. He was far more accustomed to being the caretaker than the cared-for, and having her do this for him made him feel very vulnerable, exposed in a way that had nothing to do with being physically naked.

Then Laura knelt to reach his legs and feet, and all at once he knew exactly why she'd had those tears in her eyes a few minutes ago. He had gone to his knees in front of her without a second thought-there were parts of her he couldn't reach without kneeling, so he'd knelt. But now that their positions were reversed he was suddenly and powerfully aware of the symbolism.

The words _You don't have to do this_ were on the tip of his tongue when he caught himself. Laura knew that, and there was nothing in her posture or attitude to indicate that she was uncomfortable. So he kept still and let her finish her task, lifting one foot and then the other just as she had. And when she sat back and smiled up at him, he took her hands and drew her up to her feet and into his arms to hug her close and tight.

They stood like that letting the water cascade over both of them until Laura finally asked, "Should I be worried that the water is about to run cold?"

"On-demand water heater," Kevin answered. "We could stay in here for days."

"As tempting as that sounds, there _is_ a very comfortable bed in the next room."

"So there is."

They abandoned the shower in favor of drying off, and Kevin couldn't help but laugh at Laura's continued fascination with his _fancy_ -her word-bathroom. Apparently she'd never encountered a towel warmer anywhere outside of a spa.

"You better be careful, Collins," she said, wrapping the warm bath sheet around herself with obvious pleasure. "A girl could get used to this."

 _God, I hope so,_ Kevin thought.

Laura didn't comment on the fact that there were two robes hanging on the back of the bathroom door, but she did look curious, so as he held hers open for her Kevin sheepishly admitted, "I might possibly have shopped for a little more than just groceries this morning."

She didn't answer in words, but the hug she turned to give him spoke volumes.

He shrugged into his own robe and excused himself for a few minutes, explaining to Laura that failing to feed the cat now would result in a rude awakening at five o'clock in the morning-"He thinks nothing of literally standing on my head"-and by the time he returned she was already curled up under the covers. Kevin stopped in the bedroom doorway to just look at her for a minute, enjoying the sight of her so comfortably snuggled down in his bed. He actually thought she might already be asleep until she spoke, her voice a sleepy murmur.

"Come in here where it's warm."

She didn't have to ask him twice, and a minute later they were cuddled comfortably together in the darkness, Laura's body a warm, boneless weight against his. Kevin lay awake and listened to her breathing slow as she slid the rest of the way into sleep, then allowed himself to follow her, secure in the knowledge that she would be here when he woke. He was going to get a second chance at the morning after, and he intended to make the most of it.


End file.
